The invention relates to an apparatus for forming an annular apex filler, which subsequently can be applied to a bead ring to form a tire bead assembly for use in the manufacturing of vehicle tires.
Such an apparatus is for example known from International Patent application WO 2005/118271. The known apparatus comprises a cylindrical former for supporting a cut length of an apex filler of elastomeric material, a feed assembly for feeding said apex filler to said cylindrical former, and a drum positionable adjacent said former for supporting a bead core ring. The cylindrical former comprises a first gripper for gripping a leading end of said length of apex filler so as to retain said end on said cylindrical former whilst said length of apex filler is wound in a single turn thereon. The feed assembly comprises a second gripper for gripping a trailing end of said length of apex filler, wherein said second gripper is movable towards and away from said cylindrical former. Said apparatus is further provided with a splicing unit for joining aligned cut ends of the length of apex filler when the latter is wound in a single turn on the cylindrical former. Said cylindrical former is defined by a plurality of rigid, circumferentially spaced apart fingers which are hingedly connected to support members which are mounted for radial movement. The support members are provided with cam follower projections which are received in a cam slot, in particular a spiral slot in a plate behind the support members. The radial positions of the support members is adjusted by rotating the plate with the spiral slot with respect to the support members. In addition, each support members is provided with one finger which is connected via a linkage to an actuator having projections extending through the spiral slot. When the plate with the spiral slot is moved towards the support members, the actuator pushes the linkage which operates the fingers to hinge for flipping the apex filler when wound on the cylindrical former so that a base portion thereof surrounds the bead core ring and adheres to the latter, wherein a tapering portion of the apex filler extends generally radially outward.
The aforementioned apparatus is complex due to the couplings to be made to the drives of the plate with the spiral slot and the construction of the support members with the actuator and linkage for operating the fingers itself.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for handling apex filler strips to form an annular apex filler.